Wide-spread use of a medical device is substantially affected by its cost and complexity. This particularly applies to people living with diabetes, the significant masses of whom can generally be considered disadvantaged as to their financial potential, especially in developing countries. Consequently, a newly developed device will only become a device that could improve their health and comfort if said device is generally a low-cost device and can optionally be used for a relatively long period of time. Moreover, the great masses of people living with diabetes (except for those having type I diabetes) are of older age, belonging generally to the age-group of above fifty, and thus most of them are unable or hardly able to use and to learn how to use advanced technological means and the most modern devices, such as e.g. computers, tablets, smartphones, etc. Therefore, beyond the aforementioned considerations, a newly developed device should have the most simple configuration and design as far as practical usage is concerned, and it should also be a device that has—within the range of possibilities—the least possible number of function buttons. A device that is cheap and easy to use in everyday life can result in effective application even amongst people living under disadvantaged conditions, and a more effective improvement in their health condition can be observed for such a device.
International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2005/046559 A2 discusses a kit for administering and monitoring the administration of a medicament, particularly insulin. The kit comprises a storage case for receiving the pen type insulin delivery device and further regular devices necessary for personal treatment of a diabetic patient, e.g. a blood glucose meter, the test strips, the lancer, the replaceable lancets for the lancer, an insulin pen (optionally a spare insulin pen, too), as well as spare needles for the insulin pen(s). The kit further comprises a cap mountable on the insulin pen, which emits a radio-frequency signal, optionally by RFID technique, when it is removed from the insulin pen. The radiofrequency signal is received by the blood glucose meter or an electronical device connected thereto that—optionally after performing computing and data processing steps—transmits data through wireless data communication to an external device that can be e.g. any of a cellphone, PDA, computer, wrist watch, pager or a printer. According to this solution, the blood glucose meter makes a proposal to the user as to the amount of insulin to be administered based on the measured value of the blood glucose level, data preset by the physician and data provided by the user, as well as optionally data related to the times and amounts of previous insulin administrations. Said proposal is displayed on the display of the blood glucose meter.
Said WO document contains no mention of the fact whether the communication storage case of said kit would be capable of GPRS-based data communication. Furthermore, in case of the solution discussed in said document, the storage case performs communication only to a minimal extent, and sending and receiving of data take place almost always only between the cap and the blood glucose meter. Or putting this another way, the case, in practice, serves merely for storage purposes.
However, a solution would be also advantageous, wherein the storage case that stores various tools could function as a communication center as well.